Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Book Review: Burned (Alex Verus #7) by Benedict Jacka

Mage Alex Verus is back in the seventh in the “gorgeously realized”* urban fantasy series from the national bestselling author of Veiled.

I’m used to people wanting me dead. But, this time, I’m not the only one on the hit list—and time is running out...

Diviner Alex Verus finally made one too many enemies on the Council of Mages, and now one of them is angry enough to have him executed. Fighting for his life is nothing new, but this kill order also calls for the death of Alex’s dependents—and there’s no way that he’ll let Luna, Anne, and Vari take the heat.

With only a week before he’s history, Alex will have to figure out how to disassociate himself from his friends, scrounge up allies on the Council, and hopefully keep his head attached to his body.

But saving himself is going to bring him into direct opposition with his former master and the Dark mages surrounding him. And, this time, escaping with his life might mean losing his soul...

Oh, Alex, how I have missed you.

So imagine you are hanging out at your place, just you and your blink fox hanging out, when you get a phone call that will throw the rest of your week way off track.

Alex and his stubborn attitude of trying to stay neutral after leaving Richard years ago is coming back to bite him in the ass. Alex finds out the hard way that his attitude/mentality has earned him more foes than friends. Not only will Alex need to figure out how to save himself, but also those that are close to him.

Council politics are the driving force for what is going on behind the scenes and what puts Alex into the life or death situation by the end of the book. This driving force will also make others choose Council Law or friendship as their priority.

This, I have to say, is the one time I was shocked that Alex and his divination magic did not see any of this coming. I know Benedict has been working hard on the next book, and I for one cannot wait for the book, since Burned was left on quite a cliffhanger.

About the Author:website-FB-twitterBenedict Jacka became a writer almost by accident, when at nineteen he sat in his school library and started a story in the back of an exercise book. Since then he's studied philosophy at Cambridge, lived in China, and worked as everything from civil servant to bouncer to teacher before returning to London to take up law.